It's easy to recognize Valve's 1998 hit Half-Life as one of the most innovated and influential first-person shooters ever made thanks to its emphasis on storytelling and world-building, even if the 2004 follow-up Half-Life 2 largely improved upon that core gameplay. The franchise continues to this day thanks to the 2020 VR title Half-Life: Alyx, but one fan has decided to go back in time and reimagine the original game in a whole new way.
Fan-made video game "demakes" are somewhat common projects, as many find it interesting to imagine what modern titles could have looked like if they were developed in a different era. Similar projects in the past have included a Fire Emblem: Three Houses Game Boy Advance demake, a Cyberpunk 2077 PlayStation demake, and more. Now, solo developer Jackarte is reimagining the world of Half-Life as if it were made on the original Game Boy.
Jackarte posted a 15-minute showcase of their ongoing project called "Half-Life GB" to YouTube on February 10. It's clearly more inspired by the Game Boy aesthetic than it is ardently adhering to the system's limitations, with the game's itch.io page advertising Game Boy-styled graphics, 8-bit sound, and a retro appearance plus different mechanics. The Half-Life fan game has a demo available to download for anyone interested in trying the idea out.
In the download page on itch.io, Jackarte said they came up with the idea because of a passion for retro games and a general interest in recreating games with "graphics, sounds and mechanics of the past." The creator previously uploaded a video to YouTube showing off a Game Boy-styled Half-Life not using the system's green color scheme, and they have also shared projects including a bizarre take on Cyberpunk 2077 and test footage for a Dragon Ball fan game.
While Valve has become well-known for its digital storefront Steam, the company has a number of popular franchises under its belt including Portal, Left 4 Dead, and Team Fortress. The original Half-Life is its earliest success, and the series is still widely acclaimed to this day with Half-Life: Alyx winning Best AR/VR game at the 2021 New York Game Awards.
The idea of turning Half-Life into a Game Boy game isn't entirely unusual, as Nintendo's handheld system is fondly remembered and still seeing attention to this day. Though Nintendo itself is focusing on games for the Switch, developers like Greenboy Games are creating brand-new Game Boy titles such as Kickstarter success The Shapeshifter, which is currently aiming for a May 2021 release.
Half-Life is available now on PC.
Source: itch.io